Midden#Shells

File:Whaleback Shell Midden gully - 20070722 07986.JPG in Maine resulted from oyster harvesting from {{BCE|200}} to {{CE|1000}}.]]

A shell midden or shell mound is an archaeological feature consisting mainly of mollusc shells. The Danish term køkkenmøddinger (plural) was first used by Japetus Steenstrup to describe shell heaps and continues to be used by some researchers. A midden, by definition, contains the debris of human activity, and should not be confused with wind- or tide-created beach mounds. Some shell middens are processing remains: areas where aquatic resources were processed directly after harvest and prior to use or storage in a distant location.

Some shell middens are directly associated with villages, as a designated village dump site. In other middens, the material is directly associated with a house in the village. Each household would dump its garbage directly outside the house. In all cases, shell middens are extremely complex and very difficult to excavate fully and exactly. The fact that they contain a detailed record of what food was eaten or processed and many fragments of stone tools and household goods makes them invaluable objects of archaeological study.

Shells have a high calcium carbonate content, which tends to make the middens alkaline. This slows the normal rate of decay caused by soil acidity, leaving a relatively high proportion of organic material (food remnants, organic tools, clothing, human remains) available for archaeologists to find.{{cite web| title=Whaleback Shell Midden | url=http://www.maine.gov/dacf/parks/discover_history_explore_nature/history/whaleback/index.shtml | access-date=2006-05-11}}

Edward Sylvester Morse conducted one of the first archaeological excavations of the Omori Shell Mounds in Tokyo, Japan in 1877, which led to the discovery of a style of pottery described as "cord-marked", translated as "Jōmon", which came to be used to refer to the early period of Japanese history when this style of pottery was produced.{{cite book|author=John Whitney Hall|title=The Cambridge History of Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A3_6lp8IOK8C&pg=PA61|year=1988|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-22352-2|page=59}}{{cite web|url=http://umdb.um.u-tokyo.ac.jp/DPastExh/publish_db/2000dm2k/english/02/02-03.html|title=Collections of Morse from The Shell Mounds of Omori|work=Digital Museum, University of Tokyo|author=Keiji Imamura|access-date=4 September 2015}} Shell middens were studied in Denmark in the latter half of the 19th century. The Danish word køkkenmødding (kitchen mound) is now used internationally. The English word "midden" (waste mound) derives from the same Old Norse word that produced the modern Danish one.{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=midden&searchmode=none|title=Online Etymology Dictionary|website=www.etymonline.com}}

File:TurtleMound1970 FPS1191.jpg shell midden, in Florida, is the largest on the US East Coast.]]

File:Kasori midden preserve north.jpg, Chiba, Chiba Prefecture Japan]]

Shell middens are found in coastal or lakeshore zones all over the world. Consisting mostly of mollusc shells, they are interpreted as being the waste products of meals eaten by nomadic groups or hunting parties. Some are small examples relating to meals had by a handful of individuals, others are many metres in length and width and represent centuries of shell deposition. In Brazil, they are known as sambaquis, having been created over a long period between the 6th millennium BCE and the beginning of European colonisation.

European shell middens are primarily found along the Atlantic seaboard and in Denmark and primarily date to the 5th millennium BCE (Ertebølle and Early Funnel Beaker cultures), containing the remains of the earliest Neolithisation process (pottery, cereals and domestic animals). Younger shell middens are found in Latvia (associated with Comb Ware ceramics), Sweden (associated with Pitted Ware ceramics), the Netherlands (associated with Corded Ware ceramics) and Schleswig-Holstein (Late Neolithic and Iron Age). All these are examples where communities practised a mixed farming and hunting/gathering economy.

On Canada's west coast, there are shell middens that run for more than {{convert |1|km|mi|sigfig=1}} along the coast and are several meters deep.{{Cite book|last=Stein |first=Julie |title=Deciphering a Shell Midden |year=1992 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0-12-664730-3}} The midden in Namu, British Columbia is over {{convert |9 |m|ft}} deep and spans over 10,000 years of continuous occupation.

Shell middens created in coastal regions of Australia by Indigenous Australians exist in Australia today. Middens provide evidence of prior occupation and are generally protected from mining and other developments. One must exercise caution in deciding whether one is examining a midden or a beach mound. There are good examples on the Freycinet Peninsula in Tasmania where wave action currently is combining charcoal from forest fire debris with a mix of shells into masses that storms deposit above high-water mark. Shell mounds near Weipa in far north Queensland that are mostly less than {{convert|2|m|ft}} high (although ranging up to {{convert |10|m|ft}} high) and a few tens of metres long are claimed to be middens,{{cite journal |last1=Bailey |first1=Geoff |last2=Chappell |first2=John |last3=Cribb |first3=Roger |title=The Origin of 'Anadara' Shell Mounds at Weipa, North Queensland, Australia |journal=Archaeology in Oceania |date=1994 |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=69–80 |doi=10.1002/arco.1994.29.2.69 |jstor=40386985 }} but are in fact shell cheniers (beach ridges) re-worked by nest mound-building birds.{{cite journal|title= Shell mound formation in coastal northern Australia |date=1995-12-31 |doi=10.1016/0025-3227(95)00101-8 |volume=129 |issue= 1–2 |journal=Marine Geology |pages=77–100 | last1 = Stone | first1 = Tim|bibcode=1995MGeol.129...77S }} Some shell middens are regarded as sacred sites, linked to the Dreamtime, such as those of the Anbarra group of the Burarra people of Arnhem Land.{{cite book |title =Deep Time Dreaming: Uncovering Ancient Australia |first=Billy|last=Griffiths |date=2018|page=164|publisher =Black Inc.}}

The Ohlone and Coast Miwok peoples built over 425 shell mounds in the San Francisco Bay Area. These mounds were used as:

• Burial sites
• Ceremonial places
• Living cemeteries
• Places of prayer

The mounds were constructed over thousands of years. They were often discovered by accident during construction, mining, or farming.

Some of the largest mounds in the Bay Area include:

Emeryville Shellmound

Located between Oakland and Berkeley, this mound was estimated to be 60 feet high and 350 feet in diameter. It was demolished in 1924.

Huichuin

Located in Berkeley, this mound was 20 feet high and was the site of the first human settlement on the shores of San Francisco Bay.

West Berkeley and Ellis Landing

These mounds measured almost 200 meters in diameter and rose 9 meters above the shoreline.

{{cite web|url=https://www.kqed.org/news/11704679/there-were-once-more-than-425-shellmounds-in-the-bay-area-where-did-they-go|title=There Were Once More Than 425 Shellmounds in the Bay Area. Where Did They Go?|date=24 March 2022 |publisher=kqed.org |access-date=2023-11-16}}

Shell mounds are also credited with the creation of tropical hardwood hammocks, one example being the Otter Mound Preserve in Florida, where shell deposits from Calusa natives provided flood free high areas in otherwise large watered areas.{{cite web|url=http://www.colliergov.net/Index.aspx?page=2888 |title=Otter Mound Preserve |publisher=Colliergov.net |access-date=2014-02-24}}

There are instances in which shell middens may have doubled as areas of ceremonial construction or ritual significance. The Woodland period Crystal River site provides an example of this phenomenon.{{cite journal|last1=Pluckhahn|first1=Thomas J.|author1-link=Thomas J. Pluckhahn|author2-link=Victor D. Thompson|last2=Thompson|first2=Victor D.|last3=Cherkinsky|first3=Alexander|title=The temporality of shell-bearing landscapes at Crystal River, Florida|journal=Journal of Anthropological Anthropology|date=2015|volume=37|pages=19–36|doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2014.10.004}}

Some shell mounds, known as shell rings, are circular or open arcs with a clear central area. Many are known from Japan and the southeastern United States, and at least one from South America.{{cite web|last=Lawrence|first=David R. and Hilda L. Wrightson|title=Late Archaic-Early Woodland Period Shell Rings of the Southeastern United States Coast: A Bibliographic Introduction|url=http://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1191&context=archanth_books|publisher=University of South Carolina|access-date=10 December 2011}}

{{see also|Midden (disambiguation)}}

The word is of Scandinavian via Middle English derivation (from early Scandinavian; Danish: mødding, Swedish regional: mödding).{{Citation | title = Oxford English Dictionary | edition = 3rd | year = 2003| title-link = Oxford English Dictionary }}.

The word "midden" is still in everyday use in Scotland and has come by extension to refer to anything that is a mess, a muddle, or chaos.{{cite web |url=https://www.scotslanguage.com/articles/view/id/4494|website =Scots Language Centre |title =Annaker's midden n. a mess, a shambles|access-date =15 July 2020 }}

The word is used by farmers in Britain to describe the place where farm yard manure from cows or other animals is collected. Grants are sometimes available to protect these from rain to avoid runoff and pollution.{{cite web|url=http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/SRDP/RuralPriorities/Options/Manurestorage|title=Manure/Slurry Storage|quote=Investment under this storage and handling Option may include: action to minimise the volume of clean water getting into manure or slurry stores, including the installation of covers for slurry storage facilities and middens|publisher=Scottish Government|archive-date=24 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120124191440/http://scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/SRDP/RuralPriorities/Options/Manurestorage|access-date=18 August 2011|url-status=bot: unknown}}{{cite web|url=http://www.jennifermackenzie.co.uk/2008/04/02_booth.html|title=Roofed Midden benefits Lake District Farm|quote=Thanks to a grant from Farming Connect Cumbria the Booths were able to roof the slurry midden, probably trebling its capacity by excluding the rainwater, as well as making necessary repairs to the midden itself to prevent possible run-off to a nearby beck. The midden can now provide up to 10 weeks' storage for the slurry.}}

File:Red squirrel midden.jpg, Alaska]]

In the animal kingdom, some species establish ground burrows, also known as middens, that are used mostly for food storage. For example, the North American red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) usually has one large active midden in each territory with perhaps an inactive or auxiliary midden.{{cite web|author=dfg.webmaster@alaska.gov |url=http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=redsquirrel.main |title=Alaska Department of Fish & Game: North American Red Squirrel |publisher=Alaska Department of Fish and Game |access-date=2014-02-24}} A midden may be a regularly used animal toilet area or dunghill, created by many mammals, such as the hyrax, and also serving as a territorial marker.{{cite journal |last1=Chase |first1=B.M. |last2=Meadows |first2=M.E. |last3=Scott |first3=L. |last4=Thomas |first4=D.S.G. |last5=Marais |first5=E. |last6=Sealy |first6=J. |author7-link=Paula Reimer |last7=Reimer |first7=P.J. |year=2009 |title=A record of rapid Holocene climate change preserved in hyrax middens from southwestern Africa |journal=Geology |volume=37 |issue=8 |pages=703–6 |bibcode=2009Geo....37..703C |doi=10.1130/G30053A.1}}

Octopus middens are piles of debris that the octopus piles up to conceal the entrance of its den. Octopus middens are commonly made of rocks, shells, and the bones of prey, although they may contain anything the octopus finds that it can move.{{cite journal |title =Midden formation by octopuses: The role of biotic and abiotic factors|first =Richard F. |last =Ambrose

|journal= Marine Behaviour and Physiology|volume= 10|date= 1983 |issue =2 |pages =137–144|doi =10.1080/10236248309378613|quote=Published online: 22 Jan 2009}}

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Asturian culture, characterized by shell-middens
• Crystal River Archaeological State Park
• Emeryville Shellmound
• Green Mound
• Landfill
• Mussel Point, a megamidden in the South African West Coast
• Packrat midden
• Privy midden
• Tell
• Tumulus
• Urban archaeology
• Waste management in Australia#Pre-European settlement
• West Berkeley Shellmound
• Whaleback Shell Midden
• Yachats, Oregon

{{div col end}}

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{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Shell midden sites}}

{{wiktionary|midden|middens}}

• {{Cite news|author =Hidefumi Ogawa (小川英文)|url =http://www.tufs.ac.jp/ts/personal/kidlat/Lallo/IntroLalloReport01.htm |title =The excavations of Lal-lo shell middens (in the Philippines)|publisher =Tokyo University of Foreign Studies|access-date =2008-10-19}}

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{{Ancient seafaring}}

Shell middens

Category:Landfill

Category:Stone Age